Page 48 - EatingWell Special Edition Superfoods 2019

Y O U R H E A L T H I E S T M E A L T I M E

Research on the gut microbiome has exploded (vegetarian, vegan, etc.), those who ate more
over the past decade. This frontier may just pro- than 30 different plant types per week had
vide the string theory of all human disease. “Name gut microbiomes that were more diverse than
just about any ailment plaguing us and you’ll find participants who ate 10 or fewer types of plants
some researchers discovering the microbial angle per week.
for a connection,” says Leach, whose latest book, “The human microbiome is complex, but the

Rewild, came out in 2015. Recent studies have im- more samples we get, the sooner we will be able
plicated gut microbes in everything from autism to unravel the many ways the microbiome is as-
and depression to cancer and diabetes to heart sociated with various health and disease states,”
disease and obesity. “It’s a water shed moment for said Knight after the release of the results. “The
human health,” says Leach. American Gut Project is dynamic, with samples
He should know. Leach—with his frenetic en- arriving from around the world daily. The anal-
ergy, powerful charisma and uncanny ability to ysis presented in this paper represents a sin-

step back and connect diverse dots—is one of the gle snapshot, but we want eventually to go be-
most visible leaders of the gut-health movement. yond making maps of the microbiome to making
In 2012, Leach founded the Human Food Project, a micro biome GPS that tells you not just where
a global effort to study how diet affects the mi- you are on that map, but where you want to go
crobial world within us. and what to do in order to get there in terms of
A major arm of that is diet, lifestyle or medications.”
the American Gut Proj-
Numerous ect, thought to be the larg- Building the Microbiome
studies have est microbiome project in Until the moment we are born, we are still 100%
shown that the world, co-led by Rob human. In other words, bacteria-free. Most of
scrubbing away Knight, Ph.D., a profes- us get our first dose of microbes while travel-
our microbes sor at the University of ing through the birth canal. The second big dose

may be Colorado’s BioFrontiers comes from breast milk. As babies grow, they pick
weakening Institute and a Howard up critters from dirt, pets, family members and
our bodies’ Hughes Medical Institute friends. By age 3, the microbiome has pretty much
natural defenses. Early Career Scientist. The set up camp.

goal is to map the diver- But changing lifestyles are chipping away at
sity of the human gut—and that microbiome. Early studies indicate that chil-
tease out patterns shaped by diet, age and life- dren born by C-section—which reduces the mi-
style to understand the factors most important crobes an infant is first exposed to—have a higher
for a healthy gut microbiome. risk of celiac disease, obesity and type 1 diabe-
In 2018 the results from more than 10,000 peo- tes. Add to that decreased breastfeeding and “our
ple who had signed up for the gut project were overzealous use of antibiotics,” says Leach, who
published. After completing a questionnaire and compares what antibiotics do to the gut micro-

a seven-day food journal and paying $99, partici- biome to clear-cutting a forest.
pants sent a fecal sample to be analyzed. Some of From birth to age 5, children receive more
the questions seemed odd: How many different anti biotics than during any other five-year pe-
plants do you eat in a week? Born by C-section? riod in their lives. One of Leach’s colleagues, New
Own a pet? Used an anti biotic in the past month? York University microbiologist Martin Blaser,
But Leach explains that all of these things affect M.D., believes antibiotics have “deranged” the
your microbiome. micro biome—even causing some species to go

One of the most exciting findings showed that extinct—and that their overuse is why many
a greater variety in plant-based foods in one’s health problems, including type 1 diabetes, obe-
diet meant a greater diversity of micro biomes sity and allergies, are on the rise.
in their gut. No matter the diet they followed Numerous studies have shown that scrubbing

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